By Joshua James and Megumi Hara, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Since 2017, people in Fiji have reported about 1,600 scams to police, with losses exceeding FJD$1.3 million (US$650,000). Behind these figures are individuals and communities whose trust has been exploited, often with little prospect of recovering what they have lost.
But the challenge goes beyond individual scams. Organised fraud has become a transnational criminal business, with networks moving illicit proceeds across borders faster than authorities can trace them.
This year’s International Day against Transnational Organised Crime, under the theme “Follow the Money: Stop Organised Fraud” highlights a simple truth: organised fraud is a business built on stolen money. To disrupt it, we need to follow the money and get in its way.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates in its 2026 Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment for Southeast Asia that scams cost people in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between US$88 billion and US$114 billion in 2025. That is roughly double the combined GDP of all Pacific Island countries.
Behind this vast criminal economy are “scam compounds”: guarded facilities where people are made to carry out online scams. Many workers are trafficked there, lured by fake job offers and then prevented from leaving.
A victim transfers money through a bank or mobile payment platform. The funds may first reach a “mule” account, often belonging to someone who has agreed to receive and transfer money for a small payment. Criminals then move the money through multiple accounts or convert it into digital assets. Within minutes, it can cross borders, making it increasingly difficult to trace and recover.
FIUs (Financial Intelligence Units) as national centres for receiving and analysing suspicious transaction reports, FIUs can connect information from different banks, payment providers and other sources to identify patterns that individual institutions may not see. A mule account that initially appears to be involved in an isolated scam may be linked to dozens of other accounts, common beneficiaries or a wider network moving money across borders.
Financial intelligence generated by the FIUs provides critical support to police, prosecutors and other competent authorities to support investigations, trace criminal proceeds and identify assets that may be restrained or confiscated. They can also exchange financial intelligence with FIUs in other countries, helping authorities follow the money beyond national borders.
The Pacific is no longer just a target
Scammers exploit the trust that holds Pacific communities together, at home and abroad. In February 2026, New Zealand and Tongan authorities jointly warned of BG Wealth/DSJ EX, a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform targeting Tongans and the Tongan diaspora communities through social media and word of mouth. In close-knit communities, shame can keep victims quiet. If you have paid a scammer, tell your bank and the police the same day.
But the Pacific is no longer only where victims live. In September, police in Port Moresby rescued 39 Indonesians from a house where they were forced to run online scams. Police charged four Chinese citizens and said the operation had moved from Cambodia in June.
In January 2025, Palauan authorities raided two hotels running Chinese-language online gambling and cryptocurrency operations. One was making at least US$200,000 a month, and the profits left the country as digital money. At the time, Palau lacked specific cybercrime legislation, and authorities sent most of the workers home without charging them or treating them as victims of human trafficking. The country has subsequently legislated a comprehensive Cybersecurity Act.
Scam operations have also been reported elsewhere in the Pacific. Tonga’s police leadership has highlighted the changing security landscape this year: cyber-enabled offending, cybercrime, financial investment scams, unauthorised foreign exchange dealing, money laundering, counterfeit passports and drug trafficking. These crimes are becoming faster, more global, and harder to trace.
Following the money to disrupt criminal networks
Arresting trafficked workers is wrong, and it does little to stop the criminals behind these operations. The real target must be the criminal networks. Profit is their lifeblood, and following the money is the surest way to disrupt them.
As Nancy Tikoisuva, Fiji’s Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, said in July: “If we can’t touch the criminals, we can touch the assets.”
Disrupting these networks requires banks, FIUs, police and prosecutors to work together. Financial institutions must recognise suspicious transactions and report them promptly. FIUs must be equipped to analyse that information, identify links between accounts and transactions, and share financial intelligence with investigators and their counterparts abroad. Police and prosecutors must be able to act on that intelligence, secure evidence and pursue the restraint and confiscation of criminal assets. Countries must share evidence as fast as the money moves.
Effective responses to crimes that cross borders require strong international cooperation. The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime is a new international instrument that complements the legal and operational frameworks available to Member States through the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (2000) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003). It helps countries share evidence from phones and computers and work on cases together. Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Naoero have signed it. Ten Pacific Island countries have not. Signatures close on 31 December 2026.
We encourage Pacific governments to sign the agreement before the end of the year. We further encourage strengthening legislative frameworks, financial intelligence capabilities, inter-agency coordination, and specialised training to enhance authorities’ ability to detect, trace, and disrupt criminal proceeds, and to bring scammers and their facilitators to justice.
Joshua James is UNODC’s Regional Counter-Cybercrime Coordinator, based in Bangkok. Megumi Hara is UNODC’s Pacific Adviser on Transnational Organised Crime, based in Suva.
Source for the loss estimate: UNODC, “An Interconnected Criminal Ecosystem: Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment for South-East Asia 2026” (July 2026), https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/documents/Publications/2026/TOCTA_South-East_Asia_2026.pdf
